UPSC push puts babus’ files on fast track

The UPSC has asked more than 70 central government departments to rectify the shortcomings pointed out to them earlier, nudging them to move on the fast track, reports Aloke Tikku.

If they haven’t already, government officials due for promotions can expect their files to move faster.

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The Union Public Service Commission has switched gears and has asked more than 70 central government departments to rectify the shortcomings pointed out to them earlier, nudging them to move on the fast track.

The commission is mandated by the Constitution to recruit manpower for government departments, advise on suitability of officers for deputation on promotion as well as transfer on deputation and framing and amendment of recruitment rules. Besides, the UPSC also deals with disciplinary cases related to different civil services.

For instance, an official at the department of personnel and training (DoPT) said, the commission has been able to bring down the number of call book cases — cases relating to recruitment which have been pending for more than two years — from 31 in April to 23 by September 1.

These 23 include 16 where there is a stay on recruitment by the courts and four where the ministry has opted to withdraw its request for recruitment. For the remaining three, the commission has sought clarifications from the ministry and is awaiting a response from the ministry concerned.

“This is the result of the commission’s decision to closely follow-up the pending cases,” the DoPT official associated with the working of UPSC said.

The foundation for fast-tracking the proposals was laid earlier this year when the commission decided to pro-actively remind the 72 central government organisations about the outstanding cases and set milestones to close these cases.

“So the commission wrote to each department, letters were addressed to secretaries of the department concerned listing out the shortcomings pointed out earlier in each proposal and asking them to rectify the issues pointed out to them,” the official said.

Like if the annual confidential records of 10 officers had been submitted for promotions, there may be three ACRs where records of some years are missing and two cases where the reviewing officer had not put his signatures.

The commission would write back to the department concerned about the shortcomings to seek their rectification but not get a response. As a result, it would be difficult to process the request for, say, a promotion.

“Between April and September, we are told that the commission has completed at least one round of meetings with each of the 72 departments,” the official added.